The test system used in this review was an HP 8200 Elite. The computer came equipped with an Intel Core i5-2400 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz memory, Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3250312AS 250GB SATA 6 Gb/s hard drive, NVIDIA Quadro FX580 512MB PCIe graphics card and an Intel 82579-LM gigabit network card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Enterprise.
To test the performance of the Plextor PX-256M5P, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1, HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0, ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46, AS SSD, HD Tune Pro 4.61, Anvil's Storage Utilities and Iometer. For comparison, I've also included test results from the Plextor PX-256M5P, Kingston HyperX 3K, OCZ Vertex 3 3.5", Plextor PX-256M3P, SanDisk Extreme, Samsung 830 SSD, Plextor PX-256M3S and Patriot Pyro SE.
As I mentioned earlier, the S70 is based on SandForce's SF-2281 controller. Like other SandForce controllers, the SF-2281 features a technology called DuraWrite, which uses data compression to lower write amplification and extend the life of the drive by reducing the number of program-erase cycles. This data compression also plays a big part in the controller's performance. The more the data can be compressed, the faster an SSD like the S70 is able to read and write. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that there is a considerable performance difference when writing incompressible (0%) and compressible (100%) data. However, thanks to the S70's synchronous NAND, its read speeds aren't affected nearly as much.
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1:
First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.
 Silicon Power S70 240GB |
 Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB |
According to Silicon Power, the S70 is capable of reading at 557MB/s and writing at 507MB/s when connected to a SATA 6 Gb/s port. The drive didn't come close to these numbers using CrystalDiskMark's default (random) test data. However, with the highly compressible 0x00 (0 Fill) data, the S70 was able to read at 497.1 MB/s and write at 490.0 MB/s.
 Silicon Power S70 240GB - All 0x00, 0Fill |
 Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB - All 0x00, 0Fill |
HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:
Next, I used HD Tach to test the S70's read, write and burst speeds as well as its seek times and CPU usage.
Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the S70 had average read and write speeds of 393.7 MB/s and 386.9 MB/s respectively, as well as a burst speed of 335.2 MB/s.
ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:
I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the S70's sequential read and write speeds. The tests are run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.
 Silicon Power S70 240GB |
 Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB |
When tested with ATTO, the S70's read speeds topped out at about 557 MB/s and its write speeds at 534 MB/s.
